At a press conference scheduled to answer all journalists’ questions after the French “no” to start accession negotiations with Macedonia and Albania, French Ambassador Christian Thimonier said he conveyed the strong emotions and disappointment which is felt in the country after the EU Summit in Brussels to the French authorities in Paris.

Thimonier noted that geopolitics had exceeded realistic expectations and created the impression among the public that the Prespa Agreement was the only condition for the start of negotiations.

Asked by a journalist whether his superiors in Paris were aware of what they had done in the country, Thimonier said that the Bundestag was not ready in June, the EU was in the process of elections, and during the summer, as he said, “somehow mysteriously emerged the idea was that the decision would be a compensation for the Prespa Agreement.”

A strange change of perspective took place. As an observer, I have often wondered how from an objective assessment of the agenda we moved to the positive and the weak points of the reward for the agreement that was reached, from the technical, fundamental aspects that are conditions for starting negotiations we found ourselves in a position to deal with geopolitical issues. That was not the French perspective. Geostrategic aspects are important, but there has been a strange shift of attention that is more about political marketing rather than diplomatic discussions, Thimonier said.

He said they had been closely watching the situation in the country and were aware of the great public disappointment, adding that some had made a promise and then shifted the care to others to fulfill it. He added that not only France but also others should be held responsible for the whole situation.

He says the public in the country was expecting a date and that put additional pressure on member states to make a positive decision.

Asked to comment on how other EU member states have assessed that the reforms are being implemented in the right direction and that only France has not seen it, Thimonier says nothing is over, there is the Zagreb summit and President Emmanuel Macron acknowledged the reforms implemented but indicated that a new enlargement methodology was needed to prepare both the EU and the member states.

France has support for that request from other member states and we hope that those activities will be completed soon, Thimonier said.

He noted that Macron made it clear that things were not as clear as they were presented here and added that there was a complex discussion in Brussels both at the level of foreign ministers and leaders.

Asked whether the Embassy sent a message to Macron that if Macedonia gets a date for negotiations without Albania, the Albanians in the country would cause destabilization, Thimonier stressed that one should always take into account the balance in the region and the balance in it.

He added that developments in Kosovo should also be taken into account and that the situation must be approached cautiously and monitored, since, as he said, full stabilization in the Balkans is not over yet.

Thimonier said that the responsibility for not getting a negotiation date lies not only with France, but also with those countries that have promised Macedonia to be given a  date at the EU summit. Thimonier said France had warned that reforms were key to opening the negotiations, and that the Prespa Agreement was only one precondition, but that was not enough to achieve the goal. According to Ambassador Thimonier, key reforms in Macedonia are not fully implemented, and strangely the focus has shifted to only one of the fulfilled preconditions, namely the Prespa Agreement.